“ | Born to die, but not before them! | ” |
–Speartons, |
Speartons are elite units in the Order military, who, with their heavy armor and rigorous training, make for a tough adversary. First serving the Spearton Empire, the Spearton were converted to Order faith after the revolutionary unification of all rebel empires in the fight against the Chaos.
History[]
During the original game, the Spearton outperforms the Swordwrath when it is introduced, as the Speartons were stronger, slightly faster, and more durable. Though a better fighter, the Spearton still suffered from a high cost and a long training time. Many noted that Spearton was a useful 'meat-shield' or tank, however, including the creator of the series himself.
During the second game, the Spearton loses some of its glory because they cost more population, their spears became too heavy to throw, and they don't deal as much damage as three Swordwrath. They remain powerful melee tanks that deal high damage to Light units.
They are followers of the 'Way of the Spear'.
Etymology[]
Spearton is a portmanteau of "spear" and "Spartan", referencing the famous ancient Greek city state. The Spearton was designed after stylized depictions of the Spartans.
Appearance[]
Stick War[]
Spearton are generally black stick figures adorning heavy sets of armor and a large amount of equipment. Luckily, however, their strength allows for these units to hold their large array of weapons easily, allowing the Speartons to participate in combat.
Equipment[]
Spearton carry heavy armor, depicted as bulky and buff in almost every position. Covering its thin eyes is a bronze helmet, equipped with cheek-plates and a horsehair mohawk. If fully upgraded they get a bronze armor set, in the first game.
Shield[]
In the Spearton's right hand is an apsis, or a hoplite shield, put together in three layers: the center layer made of a thick wood, the outside layer facing the enemy made of bronze, and leather making up the inside of the shield. If a Spearton is not in active combat, the shield sits at the unit's side while standing, walking, or running. Once engaged, however, the shield will pull itself in-front of the wielder, protecting it from attack.
Spear[]
In the Spearton's left hand is a spear called a javelin, a throwing weapon used to disorient or puncture an opponent. If a Spearton is not in active combat, the Spearton will hold the spear casually while standing, walking, or running. Once engaged, however, the spear will be tucked just to the left of the now front-facing shield, making for a tight defensive maneuver.
The javelin can also be thrown to attack enemies from afar.
Sword[]
Speartons are also equipped with a kopis, a curved one-handed sword, to continue fighting after throwing their spear.
Stick War II: Order Empire[]
Battle Animations[]
Death[]
When a Spearton is killed, the unit collapses briefly, first reaching towards the ground with his hands for leverage before he succumbs to his ill fate and his body hits the ground. The impact sends his helmet rolling off before tumbling to a stop.
Speartons are similar to their original versions. Their eyes and hands are no longer visible, and their neck is just barely visible.
Equipment[]
The helmet is now redesigned so that the eyes are no longer visible from the side. Additionally, the Spearton's spear was changed from a javelin to a longer dory, and is no longer used for throwing. The shield was also changed to be more circular, shinier and has a different design
According to the trailer for Stick War II, Speartons still carry a kopis, but they are never used in-game.
Abilities[]
Shield Wall/Block[]
Causes the Spearton will take a defensive stance that can tank 40% damage, this can help very well when forming a phalanx.
Stick War 1[]
In Stick War 1, pressing Q as a user-controlled Spearton cause the Spearton to block. While blocking, there is a chance an opponent's ranged attack will be blocked entirely (This chance increases by 10% whenever you upgrade shield, 4 upgrades in total) and the Spearton receives (100% - Block chance) less damage if the attack is melee. Speartons could move at reduced speed while blocking.
Stick War II: Order Empire[]
In Stick War II, blocking is replaced with Shield Wall, a toggled ability that causes the Spearton to enter a stationary defensive stance and take greatly reduced damage.
Stick War: Legacy[]
The shield wall functions much the same as in Stick War 1, allowing the Spearton to receive 70% less damage while blocking. However, they can now passively block damage even while not in shield wall formation if their shield is upgraded.
AI controlled Speartons now have new animations in shield wall formation, with Speartons in the back raising their shield over their heads and receiving an attack animation where they thrust their spear over the shield of the Spearton in front. These animations are purely cosmetic.
Stick War: Saga[]
Block functions similarly to Legacy. The Spearton now has reduced attack speed while blocking, and it blocks a fixed: Saga damage from each enemy attack or offensive ability.
Spear Throw[]
In Stick War 1 and Stick War: Legacy, the Spearton could throw his spear at enemies as a single-use ranged attack; the Spearton will then pull out a short kopis to use in combat. Spears thrown this way can inflict headshots for bonus damage. After the spear is thrown, the Spearton will not be able to use it again until It gets a new spear by being garrisoned.
Contrary to popular belief, the Spearton's kopis deals exactly the same damage and has the same attack range as his spear.
Stick War 1[]
Thrown spears deal moderate damage. AI-controlled Speartons will throw their spear at the first available target when given an attack command.
Stick Empires[]
An unused upgrade to unlock the Spear Throw ability exists in the game files, but the ability itself does not.
Stick War: Legacy[]
AI-controlled Speartons no longer throw their spears, except when the Spearton Madness spell is used. The Golden Spearton, and Speartons used by a player with the Spearton avatar in Crown Of Inamorta, will gain a new spear shortly after throwing one. The spear throw's damage was greatly increased.
Shield Bash[]
During Shield Wall, the Spearton can strike enemies with his shield, dealing damage, knocking them back, and inflicting a short stun.
This ability is only available in Stick War II/Stick Empires. While Speartons do perform shield bashes in Stick War and Stick War: Legacy, these are purely cosmetic attack animations and have no unique properties.
Spearton Madness[]
Spearton Madness is a spell in Stick War: Legacy. It costs 60 gems.
Upon activation, Speartons will glow red, AI controlled Speartons can throw their spear and do double damage; user controlled Speartons will not throw their spear immediately, but will receive the damage buff.
Headbutt[]
Version 2.49 of Stick War: Legacy gave Speartons a headbutt attack animation, which was functionally a normal attack animation. Version 2.77 changed the headbutt into an ability activated by moving the control stick in a quarter-circle forward and pressing block, and will deal the Spearton's regular attack damage to the target while knocking them down.
Strategies[]
Uses (Stick War/Stick War: Legacy)[]
- Speartons are highly versatile, their speed and health allows you to use them offensively and defensively, and can therefore be used in many strategies.
- Speartons work well with Archidons (This combination is called the Spearcher)
- Spear throws can often be used to pick out Archidons, and in Stick War: Legacy, It can directly take out a Magikill. It can also be used as an effective way to kill giants if you manage to get behind them.
- In Stick War: Legacy, the Merics work very well with the Speartons, especially when placed in Shield Wall mode
- Getting 8 Speartons in 2 lines will give you the benefit of having the first row of defending your second row while the second row attacks enemy troops. This formation is called a phalanx.
Countering (Stick War/Stick War: Legacy)[]
- A Spearton can be easily countered by a large group of Swordwrath.
- Magikill are his biggest weakness as the Magikill will simply cast Blast and stun him and then summon minions to destroy him. Minions are also good at blocking spear throws,
Uses (Stick War II: Order Empire/ Stick Empires)[]
- Due to Speartons getting Shield bash and Archidons able to kite, the Spearcher is even more potent than it was before. Along with this, both move at approximately the same speed, giving mobility and the ability to easily micro the army together.
- Another combo strategy is a Shield Wall of many Speartons, backed by Archidons and Merics where Speartons take in all damage and block units walking past their line, Archers deal the main damage, and Merics provide support for the Speartons under constant fire. If both players attempt this, it can create a deadlock line of two armies with a wide open space in the middle. These deadlocks can last super long, as the constant damage and healing on a Shielded side quickly makes the other side lose. Eventually, all deadlocks are broken, either by a team losing too many units due to all the damage, or a breakthrough attempt, which usually fails because of Shield Bash. One way to break out of a deadlock is to use Poison Spray with a Magikill but this method only works before the Opponent researches Cure and has lots of Merics. Electric Wall can also work as it can slaughter most (if not all) of the archers, giving you a devastating advantage. However, the Magikill will need to get pretty close to the enemy to use it efficiently. Another option is using Enslaved Giants to knock back the Speartons. This either exposes the archers to arrow fire, or forces them to un shield and temporarily lose their defense buff. Another (but more situational) way is by using Tower Spawn to add some dps and give your regular Speartons time to heal. Ninjas can also be used to assassinate Magikill, Merics, or archers (although this isn't recommended unless they have only a few archers) The high number of Archidons makes Fire Arrows a great way to get you extra DPS. A final way is using a raging Swordwrath mass and use their numbers to break through one spot. This is only viable if you have many leftover swords from the early game, as you can't train swords at the same time as spears.
Countering (Stick War II)[]
- Just like Stick War: Legacy, a large number of Swordwrath can counter a Spearton by using numbers and Rage.
- You can also use a large number of Archidons (around 10 to 20) with the help of Castle Archidon.
- Albowtross (with blazing bolts) can do increased damage due to the Spearton's armor.
- Flying units in general can stay out of range.
- Magikill can devastate Speartons with Electric wall.
- A Spearton can't stand against the Giant or Enslaved Giant because the damage, the health of those Giants and they can also stun the Spearton.
Uses (Stick War: Saga)[]
- Speartons are very versatile, as they're great at defending against units, particularly ranged units, but are also strong against light units such as Sicklewrath, Crawlers, and Deads due to bonus damage. Additionally, as most Light units focus on dealing large numbers of weak attacks, Block will reduce a large portion of their damage.
- Speartons benefit from Enchanted Pike, increasing range and damage.
- Spearchers are still massively effective in SW3.
- Due to their high health, they can tank many hits, making Spearton hordes quite effective.
Countering (Stick War: Saga)[]
- Magikill are able to stun groups of Speartons as well as apply temporary burn damage, and the minions can delay and distract Speartons.
- Swordwrath do extra damage towards heavy units, meaning hordes of Swordwrath can defeat Speartons especially when they leap.
- Speartons can struggle with hordes of enemies, especially by themselves.
- Block reduces a fixed amount of damage from each incoming instance, making it less effective at tanking units with high base damage such as Giants, Toxic Deads, and Shadowrath.
Skins (Stick War: Legacy)[]
- The Leaf skin is a decent choice, offsetting the Spearton's long training time and making them more economic to use.
- The Ice skin is a decent choice, making them more effective at tanking enemy melee units by slowing their attack speed.
- The Savage skin is a decent choice for the user-control bonus to attack speed making them more effective. The stun resistance also helps them stand up to Magikill and Giants, allowing it to be used as an improvised assassin.
- The Lava skin is a good choice as the Spearton's high health allows it to get a lot of use out of the damage reflect, particularly against Swordwrath and Archidons.
- The Undead skin is a decent choice, allowing Speartons to become bulky Spearton Deads when killed. However, Speartons have trouble utilizing the user control bonus unless you utilize spear throws..
- The Voltaic skin is a good choice, helping offset the Spearton's relatively low damage output by striking enemies with lightning. Speartons can also build Voltaic Charge easily due to their high health, which is improved further by the skin bonus.
- The Vamp skin is a good choice, improving the Spearton's survivability and allowing them to tank more damage.
Trivia[]
- In the unit menu of Stick War II: Order Empire and Stick Empires, Spearton are described as "Defensive unit used to tank damage"
- At the end of Stick War: Legacy, upon weakening the boss, a lone Spearton darts towards the giant shouting " I will end this, for the Order Empire!" before being picked up by the wounded creature. The user must tap the screen (in real-life, accompanied by the word 'tap' on the screen in front of them) repeatedly, until the Spearton finally shoves his spear into the giant's eye, killing him immediately and dropping the lone Spearton (while falling, the Spearton performs the same animation as units when they are stunned). This may be a reference to a scene in The Odyssey by Homer, where Odysseus stabs the eye of Polyphemus, the Cyclops. Whether this is a reference or not is unconfirmed.
- In Stick War II: Order Empire/Stick Empires, Speartons will yell "Speartons, HOLD!" when blocking.
- If enough Speartons throw their spear in the original Stick War, the game will lag significantly.
- If the player looks carefully, they will see that the Spearton holds his shield in both of his hands. As the unit turns, the shield will readjust to face the viewer and block the spear-holding hand from sight. This was likely done to save time on the animator's part.
- In real life, Speartons are based on the Spartans, who were also elite warriors of the Ancient Greek period, as they have very similar designs and are born with the intention of dying in battle.
- Also relating to Ancient Greece, upgraded Speartons in Stick War Legacy, Stick war II: Order Empire, and Stick war: Saga will have the symbol of the ancient country Athens on their shield, this is most likely just a design choice to relate them to real-life Spartans, and likely has no significance in lore.
- In Stick War II: Order Empire/Stick Empires/Stick War: Saga, a ghost version of the Spearton can be summoned upon unlocking and purchasing Tower Spawn 1 or equipping and researching Spiritons.
- In the original Stick War, a non-upgraded Spearton dealt 20% more damage than a non - upgraded Swordwrath. In Stick war 2: order empire and stick empires, the Swordwrath dealt a little bit more damage than a Spearton
- Speartons have various standing animations in Stick War: Legacy
- One animation involves the Spearton to throw his shield forward and catch it as it comes back to him
- Another animation involves the Spearton to do push ups (it shares this with the Swordwrath)
- In later updates of Stick War: Legacy, when a Spearton stops moving he will either bang his spear against his shield or slam his spear against the ground. They also do this in Stick War: Saga, though the sound effect was removed.
Version History (Stick War: Saga)[]
Version 2023.2.1319[]
- Block now reduces incoming damage by: 3, down from 4.
Version 2023.2.1286[]
- Population increased from: 3 to 5 as part of the Population overhaul.
Version 2023.2.975[]
- Block now reduces incoming damage by 4, up from: 3.